The Maryland Emerging Infections Program (MD EIP) is a working partnership among Maryland's state health department (the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, or"DHMH"), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine (UMSOM). Maryland became a national EIP network member site in 1997, and over the ensuing seven years, has developed into a mature partnership capable of performing active, laboratory-based surveillance using defined surveillance populations, conducting epidemiologic and laboratory infectious disease-related activities, and responding rapidly to emerging infectious disease threats. The MD EIP proposes to continue its collaboration with CDC, other federal partners, and other EIP sites to asess the public health impact of, and respond to, emerging infections. Specifically, the MD EIP will participate in Active Bacterial Core Surveillance (ABCs), Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), surveillance for respiratory diseases and syndromes, rapid population surveys, and human genomics-related activities. With few exceptions, the catchment area for each of these activities will be the entire State. The MD EIP also proposes to provide leadership in the development of geographic information systems and spatial analytic models for the visualization of surveillance data, generation of hypotheses, and description of the codistributions of risk factors and pathogens. The MD EIP will continue to enhance its capacity to quickly respond to newly emerging infectious disease issues by continuing to cross-train EIP staff and stengthen relationships with other partners (e.g. public health preparedness and response). A variety of training opportunities will also be provided for infection control practitioners, laboratorians, local health department staff, medical residents, and public health graduate students.